Viking: Master of the Icy Sea

Chapter 396: Reinforcements Arrive

Outside Florence, the East Roman Army continued their previous tactics, felling trees to construct trebuchets and digging siege trenches.

At that moment, a military officer proposed a suggestion: dispatch the light infantry into the Apennine Mountains to cut off the Vikings' mountain retreat route to the Po Valley in the north, trapping them in the Tuscany region.

Basil agreed.

The light infantry of the East Roman Army typically hailed from mountainous regions like Macedonia and Thessaly. They wore light armor and were equipped with small round shields and one-handed swords, along with throwing javelins and a small number of bows and crossbows.

Compared to the Franks, the Greeks were far more adept at mountain warfare. Utilizing their numerical superiority, they advanced steadily, forcing the Vikings into a continuous retreat.

By mid-February, the casualty figures among the mountain infantry had exceeded Wigg's expectations, and their supply routes were facing occasional ambushes. Coupled with the daily increase in the number of trebuchets outside the city, he decided to evacuate Florence ahead of schedule.

On February eighteenth, seizing the window before the enemy forces could completely sever the mountain passes, the Vikings traversed the Apennine Mountains from south to north, returning to Bologna at the northern foothills of the range.

Finally, Basil had reclaimed the Tuscany region. However, before he could revel in his triumph for long, grim news arrived from the northern front:

Brno and other towns in Moravia had been breached, and their main forces had been completely wiped out.

'Not good!'Basil intended to press the attack, but the mountain paths leading north from Florence were entirely unsuitable for a marching army. The Vikings could establish multiple layers of defense and stall them for a considerable amount of time.

At this moment, he faced two options. First: march north along the east coast to enter the Po Valley and hunt down Wigg's army, though he anticipated the man would actively avoid battle.

Second: order the fleet to launch a seaborne invasion on Provence, striking deep into the enemy's weakest region. The Frankish populace would inevitably rise up in response. This strategy was akin to the Second Punic War, where Rome dispatched an expeditionary force to attack Iberia and sever Hannibal's reinforcements.

After pondering for a long time, Basil felt the second option yielded a greater strategic advantage.

A week later, two hundred ships sailed formidably toward Marseille. As they navigated the waters near Genoa, their path was blocked by the Royal Navy.

This time, the Royal Navy boasted five cannon ships and forty-seven conventional warships. Over fifty massive vessels spanned across the sea, exuding an indescribable, oppressive presence.

After a brief standoff, fierce northwesterly winds suddenly swept across the sea, severely disadvantageous for the East Roman fleet's assault. After agonizing over the decision for several minutes, their commander ordered a retreat.

His adjutant cautioned, "Are you certain?"

On paper, the East Roman fleet possessed two hundred warships, a scale four times that of the Royal Navy. However, the vast majority were small to medium-sized vessels, a mixed assortment that included numerous ships from places like Venice and Naples. The commander simply did not trust these allied forces, thus opting to avoid battle.

"Yes, retreat immediately."

The East Roman formation slowly began to turn around. The Royal Navy did not give chase, merely maintaining their intimidating formation like a sheer wall of iron stretching between the sea and the sky.

When the last shadow of the East Roman sails vanished beyond the horizon, the Royal Navy erupted into earth-shattering cheers. Duke Jarlen gripped the ship's rail, his heart still pounding with lingering fear.

Since the beginning of the year, domestic reserves of saltpeter earth had reached critical levels. With most of the gunpowder allocated to the front-line army, the Royal Navy received a pitiful share; each naval cannon only had enough ammunition to fire thirty times.

Had the East Roman fleet charged straight at them, the Royal Navy would have been the ones forced to flee.

The East Roman fleet returned to Livorno, where the commander explained his reasoning to Basil:

"The risks of a naval battle were too immense. Even if we won, it would have been a pyrrhic victory. If we lost too many ships, the Moors might seize the opportunity to strike and sever the sea routes between southern Italy and Greece.

By then, tens of thousands of ground troops would be trapped in southern Italy, and the Abbasid Caliphate could take advantage of the situation to assault Anatolia. The empire would be thrust into a desperate crisis." Since matters had reached this point, Basil's ambition of opening a new battlefield was shattered. He had no choice but to adopt the first plan, leading his forces around to the east coast to enter the Po Valley.

Faced with the enemy's relentless advance, Wigg successively abandoned Bologna and Ferrara.

The Great Viking Army retreated to the north bank of the Po River, leaving five thousand men stationed in a temporary fortress on the south bank. A river chain barrier was erected between the north and south banks to prevent the Venetian fleet from entering the middle and upper reaches of the river.

The south bank fortress stood about five meters tall with incredibly thick walls. The exterior was reinforced with stone bricks scavenged from nearby city walls, while the interior was packed with rammed earth, making it sturdy enough to mount cannons on the battlements.

A military officer proposed a stratagem:

Have the soldiers dig trenches and slowly advance toward the fortress, minimizing the risk of being bombarded by cannons. At the same time, dispatch troops to lie in ambush along the lower reaches of the river, waiting for an opportunity to cross secretly and launch a surprise attack on the Viking encampment on the north bank.

Basil agreed.

After more than twenty days of grueling labor, the East Roman Army had excavated a dense network of trenches on the south bank, bringing them a mere hundred and fifty meters from the fortress. At this distance, the Welsh longbowmen inside the fortress could fire directly into the trenches, drastically slowing the Greeks' excavation speed.

To save time, Basil ordered a full-scale assault.

The East Roman Army deployed numerous small trebuchets. Hidden behind the trenches, they hurled fire pots filled with Greek Fire directly at the walls. Archers also concealed themselves in the trenches, raining down arrows with high-angle fire to cover the infantry as they launched their charge.

Atop the city walls, the Viking bowmen and crossbowmen used the battlements for cover, unleashing a barrage of arrows upon the attackers. Meanwhile, the bronze cannons were loaded with highly destructive grapeshot, blasting the fan-shaped area right in front of them.

At the same time, the long-awaiting Venetian fleet finally set sail. Once they entered the mouth of the Po River, Viking scouts lit bonfires. Soon after, Viking cavalry began to appear in waves along the north bank, trailing the fleet's progression.

At nine in the morning, the fleet deployed four thousand Greek soldiers onto the north bank. Just then, even more Viking cavalry arrived on the scene, including a thousand mounted longbowmen.

The longbowmen arranged themselves in a loose formation. From a distance of two hundred paces, they unleashed volleys of feathered arrows, forcing the Greeks to huddle together into a shield wall, thereby severely delaying their movement speed.

As time went on, the number of longbowmen only multiplied, rendering the Greek infantry on the north bank completely immobilized. On a nearby hillside, a thousand heavy cavalry were already massing, ready to launch a devastating charge at a moment's notice.

By ten o'clock, Basil realized that neither battlefield was making any headway. Left with no other choice, he abandoned the long-planned operation.

Later on, Basil also attempted an amphibious landing from Venice onto the east coast. However, the shoreline was dotted with beacon towers and heavily patrolled by rangers. The slightest movement ensured the Vikings received word of it almost instantly.

Thus, the stalemate dragged on until mid-April, when the four field divisions from the north returned to the Po Valley.

Overall, this campaign was remarkably easy. The enemy severely lacked field combat capabilities and could only cower behind their defensive works. Under the relentless bombardment of the artillery, towns like Brno fell one after another. The remaining fifteen fortresses were completely cut off from the outside world, plunging into despair before surrendering one by one.

With a sweeping victory secured on the northern front, Wigg began preparing for a massive counteroffensive.

At the beginning of this year, scattered rebellions had flared up in multiple regions across Continental Europe. The Cabinet strongly advised concluding the war as swiftly as possible. The garrison forces left in the rear were stretched to their limits, and the longer the conflict dragged on, the more frequent these uprisings would become.

Time was running out for the Great Viking Army.